“Within the union sector, there are things that we do not want to make public, because it can cause problems” relates the deputy coordinator of a union on questions of corruption in the sector
The union called the National Center of Haitian Workers (CNOAH) must in theory defend its members before the Haitian authorities and bosses, particularly during the heated debates on the minimum wage set by the State.
In 2023, the structure submits a funding request for fourteen million gourdes to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
After learning of this request, Antèn Ouvriye, worried about the possibilities of undue influence and corruption, suspended all collaboration with the CNOAH, reports AyiboPost, a source directly involved.
The decision was taken because “the leaders refused to clarify this funding request,” explains Lominy Edmond, secretary general of Antèn Ouvriye, a union support structure, to AyiboPost.
Antèn Ouvriye, worried about the possibilities of undue influence and corruption, suspended all collaboration with the CNOAH.
Contacted by AyiboPost, Dominique St-Éloi, general coordinator of the CNOAH confirms the request for financial support. According to St-Éloi, the request was made at the request of the minister for support from the unions within the framework of a previously signed memorandum of understanding.
The manager did not share the agreement in question with AyiboPost. However, the request for financial support highlights the many difficulties encountered by trade union organizations in Haiti.
Most of these organizations face a problem of alternation of leadership: without elections in sight, leaders are sometimes in office for several decades.
If in certain countries unions are financed mainly by their members, in Haiti, these structures often rely on the generosity of bosses and sometimes the State — outside of any formal mechanism. This poses a risk of detrimental influence and corruption, half a dozen trade unionists analyze at AyiboPost.
Temptations sometimes land on the negotiation tables. “During protest movements, state authorities sometimes offer us houses, cars or a visa,” Joseph Lesbien, former president of the Health Workers Union (STS), told AyiboPost. He did not want to give concrete examples for security reasons.
During protest movements, state authorities sometimes offer us houses, cars or a visa.
— Joseph Lesbian
Sometimes the stick comes after the carrot.
Abelson Gros Nègre is a former police officer and one of the instigators of the movement who contributed to the creation of SPNH-17, a union within the Haitian National Police (PNH), in November 2019.
During the police protests, “Normil Rameau and Léon Charles, two former directors general of the PNH, offered me meetings in order to negotiate the abandonment of the struggle,” reveals the former spokesperson for SPNH-17. The two officials did not respond to AyiboPost’s requests for comment.
Dismissed with five other police officers in February 2020, for indiscipline and vandalism, among others, the former police officer Gros Nègre testifies: “Before my arrest in March 2021, President Jovenel Moïse sent a person to ask me: what do I want for me and my family.
Read also: Police officers kill his son. The Haitian state pays one million gourdes.
A week after refusing these offers, Gros said he was arrested and then incarcerated in the National Penitentiary for eight months.
Before my arrest in March 2021, President Jovenel Moïse sent a person to ask me: what do I want for myself and my family.
— Abelson Big Negro
“Within the union sector, there are things that we don’t want to make public, because it can cause problems. So, we manage them internally,” relates Henry Délice, deputy coordinator of “Sendika Ouvriye Tekstil ak Abiman-Batay Ouvriye” (SOTA-BO).
There is no tangible evidence, but there remains suspicion of bribery of members of the structure during negotiations with the State and the bosses, according to Délice.
In rare situations, allegations are investigated.
This was the case in 2022, when the clerk Viliane Florice, spokesperson for the National Association of Haitian Clerks (ANAGH), at the level of the jurisdiction of Aquin and advisor at the national level, was accused of having received an amount of 150,000 gourdes to help — without success — in the release of a prisoner.
The detainee was sentenced to ten years in prison for criminal conspiracy.
After an ANAGH investigation, “we found that a lawyer actually bribed the clerk and that part of the money was paid to him,” according to Martin Ainé, president of the union.
There is no tangible evidence, but there remain suspicions of bribery of members of the structure during negotiations with the State and the bosses.
— Henry Delice
Practices of good governance and alternation of leaders are rare within unions.
At the National Union of Normaliens of Haiti (UNNOH), for example, the regulations provide for the renewal of leaders during a congress organized every two years. But this formality has not been respected for around fifteen years in this institution, one of the most powerful in the education sector.
“For some time, the congress has not been held due to the situation in the country,” explains Péguy Noël, head of UNNOH Port-au-Prince coordination since 2021.
A similar situation is taking place at the Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti (APCH) which has never had elections for fourteen years.
However, the exercise must take place every three years for the institution which has around 8,000 members.
“The union does not have a culture of elections,” believes Petrus Eustache Lerice, administrator and spokesperson for the APCH for fourteen years.
Practices of good governance and alternation of leaders are rare within unions.
When there is a vacant position, the union designates a member of the committee to fill the void and sometimes grants a second responsibility to a member already in position, continues Petrus Eustache Lerice.
These dysfunctions undermine member confidence and contribute to making unions less effective in their struggles to improve the professional condition of their members.
Read also: Why do Haitian unions achieve so little?
Within the textile union, the number of membership applications has fallen, according to observations by several officials to AyiboPost. The frequent cases of dismissal of workers in many factories, as a sign of retaliation, contribute to aggravating this problem according to testimonies.
Par Jérôme Wendy Norestyl & Rolph Louis-Jeune
Cover image: A SONAPI worker during a march in May 2023 on the Airport Road in Delmas, protesting against the illegal practices of subcontracting employers, shows a pay slip mentioning the share of his salary collected for ONA and OFATMA. | © Jean Feguens Regala/AyiboPost
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